Idaho Theatre

130 Shoshone Street East,

Twin Falls,
ID83301

Thanks for the newspaper clippings about the Idaho Theatre you just uploaded to the photo section, OCRon. I was interrupted while writing my previous comment, so it sat on my computer for several hours before I finished it and posted it. (Maybe I should have re-checked the page for updates before posting.)

But the clippings confirm my suspicion that the Idaho was never called the Rialto, and as we now know that the Idaho opened in 1916, the Rialto must never have been called the Idaho, either.

Also, an undated photo of the Rialto Theatre (possibly Lost Memory’s dead link,) which was across the street from the Idaho, at 131 Shoshone Street East. The Rialto was originally the second Orpheum in Twin Falls, probably renamed when the third Orpheum opened in 1921. Here is is a photo of it as the Orpheum.

It’s possible that that the house at 131 was called the Idaho for a while before being called the Rialto, but houses called the Idaho and the Rialto were both in operation by 1927, so the theater at 130 must have been built by that year at the latest, and the house at 131 must have been renamed Rialto by then. It seems unlikely that the house at 130 was ever called the Rialto, though, so that aka should probably be removed from this page.

Ron,thanks for adding the Idaho Theatre to the Cinema Treasures list. I grew up in Twin Falls and have fond memories of both the Orpheum and the Idaho. I worked at both theaters while I was in high school. The Idaho did play — rarely — some A-list films, including “South Pacific” and “West Side Story,” mainly because it had a slightly larger screen than the Orpheum (but it was never equipped for stereo sound).
For several years, there was also an “art movie” guild in Twin Falls which would schedule brief runs of films that would normally not play in the area — foreign films that were pretty important during that time period.
There was also another downtown theater — the Roxy — which was independently owned. I think the space was eventually turned into a shoe store, which was highly appropriate because the Roxy was pretty much a “shoebox” size theater. It was just up the street from the Orpheum.
This was during the time when most of the theaters played movies from specific studios. The Orphaum & Idaho played MGM, Paramount, Warners, and Universal-International. The Roxy, for the most part, played Columbia, RKO, Republic and Disney films.
I presume the Orpheum isn’t quite as beautiful as it once was, but I am glad that it has not been razed.
— Ivan M. Lincoln